


Of Captain Rex and Vampires

by I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning



Series: Undead Chosen One [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Rise of Empire Era - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: 212th, 501st, Attachment does not equal love in this fic, Brotherhood, Clone Nightmares, Fear, Gen, Jedi Culture Respected, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 05:37:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8000527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning/pseuds/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Clone Captain trusts his Jedi General. Always. <br/>...Right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Captain Rex and Vampires

Rex kept his feet planted on the decking, refusing to allow himself to pace.

This was a hangar, and brothers worked nearby.

The last thing he needed was for them to pick up on his anxiety.

The men  _needed_ to be able to trust their General. Completely. Without a flicker of hesitation.

They wouldn't, if they discovered their Captain had doubts.

The shuttle glided to a landing. The movement was smooth. Perfect.

Graceful.

Without flourish.

_General Kenobi is flying._

Rex didn't know whether to be relieved or even more concerned.

Kenobi swept down the ramp, a  _very_ formal click to his heels and eyes blazing.

He was annoyed, then.

_Very_ annoyed.

“Captain, I thought I had given orders that the Resolute was to be in the shadow of the planet.”

Rex opened his mouth to speak, but didn't get the chance.

“Why is it here,  _ between  _ the planet and sun ?”

Make that livid.

“You'd have to discuss it with Admiral Yularen, Sir,” Rex offered, trying to not peer around Obi-Wan and up the ramp.

The Jedi caught it anyway. “He's not coming. He's not awake. He was also flying, and we came into system facing the star. He ended up with a faceful of light.”

There was fear in the General's voice. Not clear enough for a civvie to notice, but Rex knew his Jedi Generals.

_Is it true?_

The rumors flying around the GAR suggested that General Skywalker had been turned into some kind of monster. His sudden furlough, and that of General Kenobi had been officially put down to battle stress, but nobody believed  _that_ . On top of it all, Commander Tano had been recalled to the Jedi Temple. Unofficial word had it that it was for counseling and training on how to handle her Master's new... whatever it was.

Any way you looked at it, something was up.

Rex couldn't count the times he'd caught his men searching the holonet for information on anything a human could turn  _into._ The digging led to strange mythological creatures, which in turn brought on rampant speculation as to just which their Jedi had become.

Feeling helpless, he'd allowed them to think he  _hadn't_ noticed.

The rumors that came in from the outside only stoked the fire. Fangs. Flimsi-white skin. Even greater speed than before. Nocturnal behavior patterns. The military grapevine was going crazy, and a lot of it was coming from intercepted Separatist chatter. Brothers from Clone Intelligence kept asking the 501 st what in  _blazes_ was going on.

The unofficial consensus of “Skywalker's Fist” was it all added up to vampire.

Rex sure as Kessel hoped not.

His brothers weren't the only ones who'd been researching.

Obi-Wan headed for the nearest turbolift, clearly ready to take the Admiral to task.

Rex hurried after him. “Sir. Is it safe to leave General Skywalker?”

“Of course,” Obi-Wan muttered. “He's not anywhere near windows. It's unlikely harm will come to him on his own flag-ship, and the bridge  _will_ have sunlight.”

“What if he wakes up and nobody is—”

“He won't be waking up, Captain. As long as we're not being sheltered by the planet, he won't be waking up.”

“Is it true then, Sir?” Rex couldn't stop himself from asking.

“ _Yes_ ,” Obi-Wan snarled. “It's true he can't handle starlight. And no one is listening to me about it.” He burst onto the bridge like a thundercloud.

The crew looked up, and expectant curiosity quickly disappeared at the sight of the Jedi's face.

Clones turned back to their consoles, feigning a complete lack of interest.

Rex knew they were listening for all they were worth, and probably using any reflective surfaces available to keep track of the visuals too.

“Admiral Yularen.” Obi-Wan's tone was formal. Too formal. His face  _too_ benign. His posture too relaxed.

Rex keyed the outer bridge door shut. No sense in having  _more_ brothers witness this than absolutely necessary.

If commanding officers were going to fight, the men certainly shouldn't  _see_ it.

“General Kenobi. Welcome back. I trust your flight was uneventful.” Yularen clearly had no idea what was coming.

Rex could almost feel the power coiling through the Jedi.

“No, I don't suppose my former Padawan going blind would be considered eventful,” Obi-Wan mused.

The tone was so incongruous with the words that it took Yularen a moment to process it. “I beg pardon?”

Obi-Wan's gaze hardened, his lip curled, and tension whispered into his shoulders. “I don't suppose you received my directives, Admiral.”

“To which are you referring?”  _Now_ Yularen was on guard. A bit late.

Obi-Wan glided over to the holotable and tapped at the controls. The planetary system rose above it, along with the Resolute. “Where I commanded the ship be placed in orbit.”

“Ah.” Understanding dawned in Yularen's face. “Yes, we did receive that transmission. However, there were extenuating circumstances, and after you've reviewed them I'm certain you will agree—”

“Oh. You're certain. Well, then. I suppose that makes it alright.”  
Rex strode to the inner bridge door and closed it, ignoring the pleading glances of his brothers as he blocked the crewpits out of the conversation.

Now it was just the three of them.

Neither Admiral nor General seemed to notice.

And Yularen was starting to look just a little heated.

“With all due respect,  _General_ , I was the officer in charge. I was  _here_ . You weren't. It was  _my call_ .”

“I suppose it's  _your call_ whether General Skywalker gets to keep his sight as well. I'm relieved you're so certain of yourself.”

“This is the second time you've mentioned that. What  _are_ you talking about?” Yularen demanded.

Obi-Wan Kenobi wasn't a tall man, but there was something utterly menacing about him as he took a step closer. “ _Sunlight_ , Admiral. If General Skywalker is exposed to it, it will burn out his senses. He will go blind. Deaf. He will lose his ability to smell, touch, taste,  _speak._ Possibly even motor skills. He will end up locked in his own mind, completely unable to communicate with the outside world. Entirely cut off. Try to contemplate centuries of such an existence. Thanks to your casual disregard of my directions, he was exposed to a sun for several seconds before I could resolve the situation. I won't know if you've inflicted damage on him, or how severe it might be until this ship has a planetary body sheltering it from the star's rays and he wakes up again.  _Do you understand_ ?”

“No,  _General,_ I  _don't_ ,” Yularen growled back. “Would you care to explain General Skywalker's sudden aversion towards stars?”

Obi-Wan glared at him. “He's a vampire.”

Yularen stared at him for a moment.

_So the boys were right._ Rex stood very still, trying to process it.

The Admiral chuckled. “Well played, General Kenobi. Where is he? I suppose he's watching this.”

Obi-Wan's eyes narrowed and his voice dropped even quieter. Rex shivered. “He's dead at the moment, Admiral. You'd better hope he's uninjured. You'd also better make sure that if you give us coordinates we're supposed to use that place us near a star without shelter again, you're going to warn us so he can be shielded.”  
“Come, General Kenobi,” Yularen said, impatience in his tone. “The game is over now. There is work to be done. Since we all know vampires don't exist, why don't we just pretend this never happened and— what are you doing?”

Rex watched as Obi-Wan unlatched his shoulder armor, let it fall to the holotable, and pulled down the collar of his black bodyglove.

The clone hissed in a breath as the wounds came into view. He couldn't check to see what Yularen's response might be because he was too mesmerized.

It was worse than he'd feared.

The 501 st was in trouble.

Their General had been turned into a blood-sucking monster.

The man he had known would never harm General Kenobi. That Skywalker would be liable to kill someone for trying to feed off his former Master.

This vampire wasn't the man he knew.

It was someone else. Something new.

Someone who had complete authority over Rex's brothers.

His mind brought back the accounts he'd found on the holonet. The sheer carnage. The complete lack of care for mere mortals. What if the General grew hungry? How many men would he have to consume to sate his thirst? Even if he didn't kill them, what might it do to their minds?

Obi-Wan would head back to the 212 th , and Rex and the 501 st would be alone with... the creature that looked like Skywalker.

If it didn't mind preying on  _General Kenobi_ , what chance would Rex's brothers have?

_None._

Rex would have assumed it was a nightmare, except he wasn't pulling a trigger on a Jedi. So it couldn't be a nightmare.

He forced himself to look at Yularen.

The Admiral's expression wavered somewhere between horrified and scandalized.

“Might I suggest that General Skywalker take more leave time? Perhaps seek some psychological assistance? Also, if he has suddenly grown sensitive to light, perhaps a doctor would be in order. He may have picked up a pathogen—”

“Admiral, I don't particularly  _care_ if you  _believe,_ ” Obi-Wan enunciated clearly, replacing the collar and shoulder armor. “What I  _am_ asking is that you  _protect_ your General _,_ which is already in your job description _._ You will take the Resolute to the other side of the planet  _immediately_ , and you will keep the planet between us and the sun until you receive further notice. I don't want that star visible at  _all_ . Get us as close to the planet as you need to in order to achieve that. Have I made myself clear?”

Yularen's face soured. “More than clear.”

Obi-Wan turned on his heel and swept from the room.

Not wanting to be  _anywhere_ near the Admiral in the aftermath of  _this_ , Rex followed.

 

* * *

 

_There is no emotion, there is only peace._

Obi-Wan could sense Rex's fear behind him. Could sense the entire ship bristling with curiosity and anticipation. Could sense Anakin's death.

Yularen.

Sanctimonious, overconfident—

_He's good at what he does,_ Obi-Wan reminded himself firmly.  _He's a career tactician. He has all the experience, knowledge, and history that we don't. And he's fairly flexible. He's managed to exist alongside Anakin. He may grumble, but he's cooperated. They make an excellent team. He's even accepted a child on his bridge. You know how difficult it is for non-clone military personnel to accept Padawan presence and involvement._

The Jedi took deep breaths as his feet struck the floor panels, taking him back to Anakin.

_You didn't tell him_ why _in your transmission. It could have seemed like an insignificant direction. It_ was  _his call to make. If you had been in his shoes, with the limited facts he had available to him, you probably would have done the same._

Technically true, perhaps, but...

_He should have listened._

That horrible moment when they'd dropped out of hyperspace returned to his soul. Anakin, turned to stone mid-sentence.

The shock, the  _agony_ in his eyes.

He couldn't scream. Couldn't speak, couldn't move, couldn't do  _anything_ to protect himself.

And he wasn't unconscious. He might be cut off from the outside world, but Obi-Wan could sense the horror. The pain. The claustrophobia. The complete helplessness.

According to the chrono, it hadn't taken Obi-Wan long to drag Anakin into the back room and seal the door.

At the time, it had felt like an eternity.

_What if I hadn't been there?_

It was fortunate they'd been a few minutes out from anything they could  _crash_ into, since the pilot had died and the copilot was busy with everything  _but_ flying.

_There is no emotion, there is only peace._

Yularen had done what he felt to be right.

That was all anyone could ever do.

They would just have to show the world-weary Admiral that the galaxy had a few surprises left for him.

_Peace._

Anakin might not be hurt.

And if he was, they would find their way through it. Together.

No matter what came, no matter how bad it might get, as long as they had each other, they could figure it out.

_Peace._

The anger slowly seeped away, leaving gratitude.

Rex had made the right call in isolating the confrontation.

He was a smart man. Insightful. Loyal.

_And I think I succeeded in terrifying him._

Ah. That needed to be changed.

Obi-Wan came to  _that_ realization at the top of the shuttle's ramp. Just in time to hear Rex's startled curse.

 

* * *

 

Since General Kenobi didn't tell him to wait outside, Rex had followed him into the smaller ship.

General Skywalker lay on the floor.

Except for the  _lay_ part.

“ _What_ the...” Rex didn't complete the muttered sentence, his brain was too preoccupied with the bizarre signals being sent to it.

“Either think of him as a statue, or in full rigor mortis,” Obi-Wan offered. “The latter is probably more accurate.”

The positioning would have been understandable if Skywalker had been sitting in a pilot's seat, reaching for the buttons overhead. Tipped on his side on the floor, it made no sense  _whatsoever._

He  _did_ look like a carved stone figure. With clothes. And hair. And a mouth open like he'd been frozen in the middle of a word. The only color on his body being his fixed, blue eyes, the pupils reduced to tiny points.

“He's not blinking.” Rex hated the blank stare. He'd seen it in too many fallen brothers' faces.  _Corpses'_ faces.

“He's dead, Rex.” Obi-Wan knelt beside the strangely-braced body. “Come here.”

“Can he see me, Sir?”  
“No.” Obi-Wan sent him an encouraging smile as the clone crouched beside him. “The only time he's conscious when in the presence of a star is if the sunlight is touching him. Even then, he can't communicate with the outside world. He's completely trapped, feeling the star destroy his body.”

Rex shivered. “That's— awful, Sir.”

“Yes,” Obi-Wan murmured. “It is.”

Rex could understand the Jedi's response to Yularen. Obviously Obi-Wan cared about this... creature as much as he had cared about Skywalker.

“You're not going to be able to detect him when you're seeking out heat signatures,” Obi-Wan warned. A touch of a smile lit his face, an expression Rex recognized from strategy meetings. “It's possible that will give him an advantage against certain droids and security systems. His ability to be present with you during ground and space battles will be directly limited by their line-of-sight with stars.”

“I doubt he will appreciate being slowed down that way.”

“I know he won't.” Obi-Wan's eyes, watching Anakin's face, gentled. “You may want to warn your men that he's likely to try to shift every battle possible into planet's night. They're going to be fighting in the dark a lot now.”

“Doesn't it... bother you to see him like this, General?” Rex asked.

Obi-Wan spared him a glance. “This is how he rests now, Rex.”

Was he bluffing? Unwilling to admit that seeing his friend  _dead_ was something other than normal?

Surely he couldn't be  _accepting_ this as just another Anakin Skywalker quirk.

“Is it... still  _him_ , Sir?” Rex needed the answer. Needed to know what his men were going to be facing.

Obi-Wan met his worried gaze with calm. “Yes.”

Anakin's eyes widened, he gasped in a breath he didn't need, and his rigid posture gave way, crumpling him unceremoniously to the floor like a melting icecube.

“Ah. Planet to the rescue,” Obi-Wan murmured.

Anakin scrambled backwards, his fingernails leaving scratches in the durasteel floor. His back struck the wall and he flailed, eyes wild.

Rex sprang a few steps out of reach.

Skywalker looked panicked.

The clone had a hard time thinking that could be a safe thing for a vampire to feel when there were other people in the room.

The safety of the  _others_ being the important part of that equation.

“Obi-Wan? Obi-Wan?” Anakin rasped, his voice so familiar.

The creature's features had the cast of Skywalker's, and it had his voice. But the fangs, the lack of color, the metal-shredding fingernails, the  _deadness_ ? How could it be him?

“Easy,” the older Jedi soothed. “I'm here. Easy.”

Anakin focused on his face. “It was— It wasn't supposed to  _be_ there—”

“I know.”

“It  _burned_ — I couldn't see, I couldn't move, I couldn't sense you or  _anything_ —” Skywalker pressed his palms to his eyes and threw his head back against the wall.

The metal dented with a thud.

Rex's eyebrow involuntarily arched even as he flinched.

“It was crawling  _inside_ —” Anakin choked.

Rex felt himself relaxing. So far during the war, his General had managed to dodge any form of post traumatic stress. If the clone had been asked to bet, they'd just found what might do it for the Jedi.

And for some reason it was pulling Rex's guard down. It made his General more relatable.

_No._ No.  _He's something else now. He's using General Kenobi, he's using people who want to help_ Skywalker.  _It's deception. We_ want  _to be fooled. He can't be him. Skywalker_ died _. People don't stay when they're dead. Something else is using his body._

“Master—”

“Did it cause any damage?” Obi-Wan asked, his voice insistent but gentle. “Focus.”  
Anakin stilled.

Rex eyed him warily. Skywalker wasn't blinking again. Definitely not breathing.

It bothered him. Everything about this was... unnatural.

_You should talk,_ he thought, and finally amusement raised its head.  _You've got a droid for a mother and you hatched from a tank with exactly the same body and voice as millions of others. Half your brothers were created after the genetic donor died, and yet more and more are made every day._

There wasn't anything natural about  _any_ of that.

Rex forced himself to relax.

Maybe he was looking at this all wrong. Maybe he was taking on too much of the attitude he'd found on the holonet.

General Kenobi had obviously kept an open mind.

He wasn't easily deceived. Rex knew just how deeply Obi-Wan mulled things over, especially when it came to Force things. He said this was _the_ Anakin Skywalker.

If anyone would know... it would be him.

He'd be the hardest to deceive.

_It means he has good reasons for believing._

That being the case...

_They accepted me though_ I  _am an aberration. Here's my chance to return the favor._

The fact that the Jedi  _didn't_ view the clones as something less than the rest of the sentients in the galaxy hadn't been lost on Rex and his brothers. It had nurtured a fierce loyalty that was willing to weather anything.

General Kenobi believed this was Skywalker.

Rex believed in General Kenobi.

Maybe it could be that simple.

Anakin shook his head in answer to his Master's question. “I don't think anything is broken.”  
“Thank the Force.” Obi-Wan's shoulders sagged in relief.

“I do feel drained, though. How long has it been? thirty-six hours?”

Rex could see Obi-Wan's surprise. “No. Less than half an hour.”

Anakin blinked, also surprised. “Oh. Nevermind.” He pulled himself to his feet.

Rex's gaze snagged on the dent in the wall and claw marks on the floor.

This was going to take some serious getting used to.

“Rex.”

The clone's head came up. Apparently, Skywalker had just now noticed him.

_And_ was pleased. Very pleased.

“How are things?”

Rex straightened, but managed to not throw a salute. Skywalker preferred to keep things just a little relaxed. “Uneventful for us, Sir, though the boys have been worried about you.”  
Anakin rubbed his forehead. “They're not the only ones. I don't suppose Ahsoka's back?”  
“No, Sir. We have heard nothing from Commander Tano.”  
“We can contact the Temple once we get things straightened out,” Obi-Wan offered. “I'm not confident Yularen is going to follow directions where your health is concerned. He seems to believe we've both gone mad.”

“That's easily fixed.”

Rex jumped as a blur swished past him and down the landing ramp. He turned to Obi-Wan, eyes wide and pulse pounding.

Kenobi looked just a bit rueful. “I certainly hope he doesn't give the Admiral a heart attack, but by the time  _I_ got there, it'd be all over anyway. Might as well wait until he gets back.”

“Is the Admiral safe, Sir?”

Obi-Wan looked at him in surprise. “Of course. Anakin ate just a few hours ago. Though, apparently, he's going to need to again. I'll take care of it. He has compunctions against feeding from the unwilling.”

Rex stood very still to try to keep from betraying his discomfort and dread. “Should we be willing?”

“What?”

“Should my brothers and I be willing to feed him?” The words were difficult to get out, but he  _needed_ to know.

Obi-Wan looked stunned. “Of course not.”

“I understand, General. Now, off the book. Should we be willing?”

The Jedi's expression went from confused to a glare in a heartbeat. “No, Rex. We would never take advantage of you like that.”

And... now Kenobi was offended.

Great.

Rex fought the urge to shift his weight. He  _would_ stand firm for this. “We were  _made_ for the Jedi. To be what you need. With all due respect, General, nothing you could do to us would be taking advantage.”

“You certainly weren't made to  _feed_ us,” Obi-Wan sputtered.

“No, but that's only because the Kaminoans didn't know it was an option to prepare for.”

Rex was unprepared for the anger being punched clean out of Obi-Wan. The Jedi looked sick and grieved.

“Oh, Rex.” He ran a hand over his face. “No. No. The  _Kaminoans_ may have intended for you to simply exist for us, but that is  _not_ what we want. You are a  _person_ , Rex. You have rights, even if the Republic doesn't recognize them.  _Yet._ We have friends in the Senate who are working towards the day when you  _will,_ and we will stand by you until then.”

Rex sighed. “We're aware of that, General. We appreciate it. We know you don't want to take advantage of us. That's not the point.”

“It's  _absolutely_ the point,” Obi-Wan argued.

Rex raised his chin. “You let him drink  _your_ blood.”

“He's not my commanding officer.”

“No. But you want to take care of him.”

“Trust me. He won't take from any of you. Or Ahsoka.”

Some of the knots in Rex's gut eased. Not much, but a little. “And... when he gets hungry? Very hungry?”

“I'm preventing that,” Obi-Wan tried to assure him. “If he eats every day, he's fine. Even every two days, if need be.”

“And when we're away from the Two-Twelfth? When you're not here? And he goes without longer than that? A week, maybe?”

Alarm crossed Obi-Wan's face. “No. Not a week. That ends— badly. Don't ever let him get distracted enough that he doesn't eat for a week.”

Rex gave him a pointed look.

“No.  _Not_ you boys. We're going to find a professional. Someone who feeds vampires for a living.”

Now it was  _Rex_ who looked alarmed. “We have to take a  _civvie_ with us everywhere?”

“Not  _everywhere_ —”

“Everywhere the Resolute goes, and any ground missions that might possibly take longer than forty-eight hours.”

Obi-Wan frowned. “It's not the  _best_ option, I know, but I can't always be here. I can rearrange my schedule for the most part—”

“The clones are off-limits.”  
Rex just about jumped out of his skin. Spinning around, he found a grim Skywalker.

“They're not food. I don't see them that way; they don't need to worry I will.”

“See?” Obi-Wan added. “Official, unofficial, on the record, off. Doesn't matter. All the same.”

Rex gave them a nod and backed towards the landing ramp. “Very well, Generals. If you'll excuse me?”  
He needn't have asked. Anakin was eyeing Obi-Wan's throat. He probably thought he was being covert.

Rex received permission and retreated to his quarters.

He paced the small area, the door safely locked.

A tumult of conflicting thoughts stormed through him.

Massive relief that the General they'd trusted wasn't going to start preying on them, yes.

But it was being overshadowed by frustration.

He and his brothers had been  _made_ to complete a Jedi. To become a self-sufficient unit.

The clones needed only their Jedi.

Nobody else.

And the Jedi only needed them.

It hadn't been easy for Rex when he figured out his Jedi didn't see it quite the same way. Anakin Skywalker needed his Padawan, his former Master, and the Senator of Naboo.

The 501 st had learned to live with it.

But the thought that he needed some random civvie  _too_ ?

It set off all of the warning klaxons in Rex's mind.

He  _knew_ they'd been programmed into him. That they weren't natural.

It didn't make them any less  _loud_ or any less  _important._

The internal sirens said that since their Jedi was turning to a civvie instead of them, he and his brothers were defective. Not good enough. Failing their Jedi, and therefore failing themselves and one another.

“No, no,” he muttered to himself. “The Jedi want us to be independent. They want us to think of ourselves outside the context of a General. To think of the future.”

But there were imperatives.

_**Complete your Jedi.** _

_**Self-sufficient unit.** _

_**The Jedi are the only reason you exist. You live for them.** _

Rex growled.

With Ahsoka? Well, they'd just sort of decided  _ she  _ was one of their Jedi too. They had  _ two _ .

And Obi-Wan? The 212 th and 501 st worked together so often they sometimes seemed to merge. Both battalions could watch the two Jedi turn to one another without feeling they'd failed.

The Senator?

For the most part the 501 st managed to pretend that wasn't an issue. It's not like they were near her much. She was important to their Jedi, so they tried to keep her safe when she was within reach. Other than that, she was fine to ignore.

This was different. So,  _ so  _ different.

A civvie.

A random kriffing  _ civvie. _

Not a Jedi. Not even an obscure part of the military structure. A  _ civvie. _

Rex wasn't sure how he or his brothers were going to adjust to that.

The civvie was likely to have a rough time of it.

 

 


End file.
